Weekend Box Office: 'Dragon' Wins a Slow Week

Last week, I wrote that Dreamworks' How to Train Your Dragon had bested the debut of Kick-Ass by a fraction of a million dollars. When the final numbers came out on Monday afternoon, it had turned out that the newcomer edged out the popular animated film by roughly the same amount. This weekend, I think, Dragon's #1 spot is safe, estimates or no. The movie continued its lengthy, successful run, dropping just over 20%, and rising through the ranks of its DreamWorks Animation predecessors; it now seems assured to best Kung Fu Panda as the studio's most successful film without "Shrek" in the title.

The weekend's runner-up and top debut was Jennifer Lopez's poorly reviewed romantic comedy The Back-Up Plan, which grossed around $12 million, running $3 million behind Dragon. That number seems low, but it's actually about typical for a movie headlined by Lopez, even in her heyday. Her top opening weekend gross ever, in fact, is Monster-in-Law, which grossed $23 million back in 2005, with an assist from Jane Fonda. The Back-Up Plan is the second wide release from CBS Films, whose Extraordinary Measures opened to $6 million earlier this year and went on to gross $12 million in total.

Warner Bros.' The Losers more or less ate dust, ending up behind Date Night's third weekend with $9.6 million -- an unsurprising number for an off-brand genre release with undistinctive marketing and minimal star wattage. The nature doc Oceans grossed $6 million on the weekend, and around $8.5 million since its Earth Day release; it's running behind last year's similar release of Earth, albeit on 600 fewer screens.

Also of note -- Clash of the Titans has been holding up quite well in the past couple weeks after taking a sizable initial tumble. It won't hit $200 million, but may make it to $170.